Which Giddings bass trombone mouthpiece is the right one for me?

[galderto]

Hey y'all.
I'm new to this forum and it's great to be here. I am in the process of buying a Getzen 1052FDR bass trombone and was looking to get a Giddings mouthpiece for it. I already own a gold plated Denis Wick 0AL and a Bach 1 1/2 G. I like the feel of the stainless steel and I play on Giddings pieces for my small bore and my large bore tenors. To me the 0AL feels a little big for my liking and with the 1 1/2, I feel like I can go a bit bigger. I'm also not the most experienced bass trombone, but I'm starting to become pretty accustomed to it and might even switch to concentrating on bass rather than tenor. Any thoughts on mouthpieces to look into from Giddings?
GA

[tbonesullivan]

Well, the 0AL and 1 1/2G have pretty different rim profiles, so they are going to feel quite a bit different. A 1 1/4G size with a bach style rim sounds like it might be the ticket.

The smallest of the Giddings bass trombone mouthpieces are 1 1/4G size mouthpieces: the Mark 1 and the Adriano. The Adriano has one of the deepest cups of ALL the Giddings line, so I wouldn't really recommend it sight unseen. I would look at the Karif and Chinook in addition to the Mark 1.

Most of the Giddings line are close to or larger than Schilke 60, so definitely think before going for a DH-100 or a Nor'Easter.

[Kevbach33]

I've briefly played on a Don Harwood piece, which was developed, according to Giddings, from the Chinook. I believe these are a touch smaller than a 60 in size. Not truly massive, but maybe not so great for new bass trombonists.

Recommendations? The Mark 1 and Karif (really between a 59 and 60 in size) may work well for classical and solo work. For commercial and big band music where you need to crank those pedals? Give a look at the V-Max. About a 59 in width but not too deep (rather shallow for a bass piece as wide as it is), and a big ol' throat to funnel the power through the horn.

The best thing to do is try to get some face time on the pieces yourself.

[GBP]

The Don Harwood, I feel, is the best balanced of his bass mouthpieces. Some of the others, for me, play weird. They tend to require a bigger shift than I like or more air given the volume coming out of the bell.

[JLivi]

Other than rim differences, the cup diameters of a DW 0AL (27.42mm) & Bach 1.5G (27mm) are slightly different.

FWIW, when I started out on bass trombone, coming from tenor, I played a 1.5G and it wasn't until I switched to a bigger piece that I realized how crappy the 1.5G is, at least for me. I should also mention that I'm still mainly a tenor player.

Quick back story, for almost a decade I played a Hammond 20BXL, which is similar to a Schilke 59 (28.5mm). It wasn't until recently that I decided to go a bit smaller because the Hammond wasn't comfortable anymore. I've been messing with different mouthpieces between 28.0-28.5mm. The only ones I've tried thus far are the Griego 1.5 Deco and Laskey 85MD. I haven't played any of his bass pieces yet, but I have a V-Max coming this week. And I'm a big fan of his tenor mouthpieces.

To answer your question, coming from the mouthpieces you've listed I wouldn't get anything bigger than a V-Max. So that would be Adriano, Mark-1, Karif, or the V-Max.

You can view Giddings' size chart here, as I'm sure you know. You just have to convert inches to mm if that's the unit you're used to looking at.
https://www.gwmouthpieces.com/pages/mou ... size-chart

[galderto]

I was looking into the Chinook and it seems like it would do the job. It's right in the middle and it is the next size up from the V-max. I just want a mouthpiece that I can do everything with from solo/classical playing to a big band/commercial setting. I'm stuck between the Chinook and the V-max at the moment.

[tbonesullivan]

The V-Max is not really intended for classical work. It's for big band/commercial, with lots of ZIP.

I don't know if there are many mouthpieces that work well for orchestra as well as having that big band zip. I would say the chinook is probably your best option.

Many players will also use somewhat smaller cups/backbores for solo playing, when maximum power is not required.

[JLivi]

I was looking into the Chinook and it seems like it would do the job. It's right in the middle and it is the next size up from the V-max. I just want a mouthpiece that I can do everything with from solo/classical playing to a big band/commercial setting. I'm stuck between the Chinook and the V-max at the moment.

The V-Max is not really intended for classical work. It's for big band/commercial, with lots of ZIP.

When the V-Max arrives, I'll try to give you my thoughts. I'm not a classical player, so maybe I'll really dig the V-Max. I'm barely a bass trombone player

We'll see...

[Remo]

For what it's worth, we're now at about 12 or 13 bass trombonists at BonesWest that have all switched to the Chinook from all sorts of other mouthpieces, including other Giddings. Extremely versatile mouthpiece. However, I don't think the Mark 1 would be a bad place to start based on what you've been playing on in the past.

[tbonesullivan]

I was looking seriously at the Chinook for a while. It's almost Schilke 60 sized, but it doesn't have a massive cup or throat like many of the other bass mouthpieces out there do. .304" is definitely on the more "conservative" side compared to a lot of currently available bass mouthpieces.

[JLivi]

When the V-Max arrives, I'll try to give you my thoughts. I'm not a classical player, so maybe I'll really dig the V-Max. I'm barely a bass trombone player

We'll see...

I finally got some time to sit down with the V-Max and like every GW mouthpiece, it's really well made. It's incredibly comfortable too. The rim is nice, but the throat is definitely WAY to big for me. Everything response incredibly quickly and the tone I'm able to get cool. The pedal note had a little bit of a "bark"to them.

I would be interested to see how a Chinook, Karif or Adriano play. I'll be posting the V-Max to the classifieds and will stick with my Laskey 85MD for the time being.

Hopefully that helps!

[Burgerbob]

Giddings throats are all pretty large. I would definitely ask what the specs are on the Chinook, Karif, and Adriano before buying. .321 on the V-Max is gigantic.

What's letting you down about the 85MD?

[galderto]

So my new bass bone came in and so did the mouthpiece I chose. I decided to go with the Chinook and so far it has been great. It does what I want so far and petals come out big. I'll try to keep updated with how it is as I play it more over time. Thanks for the suggestions.
GA